Reeeeeeee... Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

July 10, 2009 6:38 PM

How do we make crickets hate our yard so they will hop away and shut up?

For about 2-3 months during the hottest, most humid parts of the summer where I live in Georgia, we have these loud, screeching crickets that scream "Reeeeeeee... reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" all night long. These aren't the tree frogs or other night insect noises that may be commonplace in most southern areas. (My parents live 20 minutes away from us, and they do not have these loud crickets at their home, but they are in a neighborhood and we're practically on a farm.) These spastic crickets are so loud that we can hear them over the television or our white noise machine. It sounds almost like a traffic whistle, over and over. It is driving us insane.

Is there anything we can spray or sprinkle in our yard to make them not want to be here? Or any other kinds of repellents or remedies? Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

posted by shimmerstory to home & garden (12 comments total)

I suspect these are not crickets... maybe cicada flies?

I suspect there isn't much you can do, other than move...
posted by HuronBob at 6:58 PM on July 10

Install double pane windows or like do like HuronBob said.
posted by cwarmy at 7:09 PM on July 10

Those are very likely cicadas, and they're really common in Georgia. Unfortunately, I doubt you'll be able to do anything about it, especially as their sounds carry very far and you might find yourself having to bug-bomb the trees to do any dent in their population, which isn't feasible.

If you haven't been here long, you'll eventually be able to tune them out. If you've been here a while and still haven't gotten used to them... Hopefully you will. Sorry.
posted by neewom at 7:13 PM on July 10

Not to be funny, but these aren't a bug, they're a feature...of summer....yes, they are loud (my folks have them here in NC) but it's as much a part of the season as whippoorwills and lighning bugs. Perhaps if you can think of the sound differently it will help?
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:22 PM on July 10 [10 favorites]

nthing cicadas. There's not much you can do...
posted by KokuRyu at 7:39 PM on July 10

Ear plugs
posted by hungrysquirrels at 7:47 PM on July 10

If it's cicadas, they go on multi-year cycles so they tend to be much, much worse certain years and only moderately worse other years.

Not sure if that really helps . . .
posted by flug at 8:00 PM on July 10

You can get used to any sound if you hear it often enough. I have lived next to a freight railroad track that vibrated the whole house, and I have lived across the street from a major urban fire station. In both cases I just got used to it and after a while I didnt even notice, with the crickets or whatever at least they are going consistently enough that I guarantee you that if you get the stick out of your butts and start thinking about them differently you will get used to it and probably miss it a little in the winter.
posted by BobbyDigital at 8:15 PM on July 10

Those are cicadas. Believe it or not there are those of us that miss that sound. When I go up to Canada the loons freak me out. You can buy CD's of loon calls.

You can till and re-sod your yard to kill the grubs living there. It will only reduce them slightly. I suggest you soundproof your house, move to Canada, or get used to it.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:45 PM on July 10

I know exactly what you're talking about, and I had a thing happen to me in August about ten years ago (I'll spare you the bummer details) that connected that sound to every cell in my body with an 'I'm depressed as hell' sensor. That and humidity. Oh, Summer--you're pretty but you're such a trial with your mosquitoes and freaky sounds and the giant snakes living down by the creek.

How about trying to finer tune your white noise generator to the tone of the sound? This one (which is the one we have) allows a lot of granularity in terms of pitch adjustment.

An air conditioner might work as well, and/or a combination of the two. On the plus side, it's not like bass--you won't hear it all through your body if you resort to eardrums.

Or like me, you can have a love/hate relationship with summer and get really into fall.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:28 AM on July 11

Cicadas: Nature's Misfiring Car Alarms
posted by Scattercat at 3:40 AM on July 11 [1 favorite]

They sound like cicadas, which emerge from underground grubhood every summer in the South. However, some years they are much louder than others--some species of cicadas have 13 and 17 year cycles and emerge in large numbers together. When they sing at once it can be deafening. Its possible that you may be experiencing one of these cycle "blooms". (On a side note, scientists think the "prime number" cycle developed to prevent predation, as hunters with a 2 year or shorter lift cycle couldn't eat many. Neat, huh?)

Look around and see if you see any weird alien-like insect skin-shells clinging to trees, bricks, etc.; these are left behind from their molting. You can touch the skins and even gently lift them off of the surface to attach to your shirt. (We were weird Southern kids and used to collect the shells as "pets".)

Don't try to bug bomb or remove cicadas; it will be a Sisyphean effort. What you could do is try to attract more birds, who eat cicadas. Another fierce predator of cicadas are cicada killer wasps. They look absolutely terrifying and are enormous, but if you see them skimming around do not kill them. They eat a lot of cicadas.

(If you can believe it, I actually record the cicadas in the summertime to play back at night when I'm in my winter doldrums. Lifts my spirits!)
posted by muirne81 at 7:50 AM on July 11 [2 favorites]